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The Nightmare (Joona Linna #2)

by Lars Kepler, Laura A. Wideburg (Translation)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 2,277 ratings · 331 reviews

"Kepler provides a master class in noir."—The Boston Globe

A drowned young woman is discovered on an abandoned pleasure boat drifting by the Stockholm archipelago---strangely, her clothes are dry. The next day in Stockholm, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook inside his completely bare apartment---but how could he have hung himself with no furniture to climb upon?...more

Paperback, 528 pages

Published January 29th 2013 by Picador (first published 2010)

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Feb 24, 2011 Stef rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one. Stay away. Stay far, far away.

Shelves: fiction, investigative, law-medical, swedish, awful, i-own-it, 1-star, language-swedish, murderer-serial-killer

I made it approximately thirty pages into this one, and I just... can't. I can't read any more.

The whole thing reads like a mediocre self-insert fanfiction, and the protagonist is the most hateful one I've ever come across; the first chapter describes a televised debate between a peace activist and a weapons manufacturer, with the manufacturer pwning the activist quite severely, and I was really amused until horrendous realization began to dawn and I understood exactly which one of the two was t...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Elin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, crime-thriller, mystery, fiction, scandinavian-author, 3-stars, my-library

I purely enjoy the Kepler books. This is the second one about the policeman Joona Linna and I wasn't sure I'd like it as much as the first one. But I have to say this one, The Nightmare, was better.

There are some flaws in the story, but by some reason I can't explain, they don't bother me that much. Like some moth eaten parts of a good cardigan. I'd still wear it.

I wish I could give this book 3 1/5 stars but I can't. It's a good thrill and with plenty of twists and turns. Works as an audio book...more

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May 24, 2012 Amy Rhodes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This new one by the author of The Hypnotist features the same detectives but I confess that while I remember liking The Hypnotist a lot, the characters did not stick in my mind. They might now as they are very well-developed here, and likeable. This is a big fat thriller with a complicated plot that holds together impressively, with many interconnected characters that are all sufficiently well-developed that you don't mix them up---not a small accomplishment! The more I think about the intricate...more

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May 15, 2013 Nicola rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brilliant. I'm glad to get in on the ground floor with this writer as his books are being translated to English. This is he most recent English release and the second in the Joona Linna series, with the next one coming out this (2013) summer. A fantastic case of strange murder, suicide that may be murder and then a running tally of victims is connected to a political thriller that expands upon my usual fare of serial killer reads. I'm not usual interested in political thrillers but that aspect d...more Brilliant. I'm glad to get in on the ground floor with this writer as his books are being translated to English. This is he most recent English release and the second in the Joona Linna series, with the next one coming out this (2013) summer. A fantastic case of strange murder, suicide that may be murder and then a running tally of victims is connected to a political thriller that expands upon my usual fare of serial killer reads. I'm not usual interested in political thrillers but that aspect doesn't come into play until well into the >500 page book that it's just one more twist to an intricate multi-threaded plot that leads in many directions before it all comes together in the end.

There are some inconsistencies with the first book. In that one we didn't get to know Joona much at all with psychiatrist Erich Maria Barc being given the lion's share of character development. Well, Eric is not in this book; he is mentioned in passing though not by name. Joona has an arrogant catch phrase in the first book which has been dropped all together now instead of claiming that he is always right, the people around him seem to bolster his arrogance by telling him he is always right instead. Much is made of Joona being a Finn in this Swedish police procedural. I honestly can't remember this being mentioned at all in The Hypnotist. Joona's character is fuller developed now and he has been given a background up to the point where a mystery is foreshadowed at the end which may be part of the next book's plot.

Even being a chunkster, this is a fast-paced read. One that keeps the heart pounding and the pages turning late into the night. I adore the small 3-4 page chapters that make one fly from chapter to chapter and for some reason this set up makes it hard for me to put the book down when I see there are only 4 pages to the next chapter! The case in The Hypnotist was more frightening; while this one is still thrilling it is quite different letting us know Kepler is not going to be following a cookie cutter plan for his series books.(less)

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Mar 10, 2013 Booklover, Indianapolis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-romance, read-in-2013

(Mar) I loved The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (a psuedonym for a Swedish husband and wife writing team)- one of my favorite reads of 2012. I was really looking forward to reading this, but alas, it was just not as good as The Hypnotist. I'm not sure if it was the translation or just the subject matter - in The Hyp, I found the story gripping and the murder more...personal? In this book, I found the language more stilted, felt that there were too many characters floating around, and it just felt mor...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Marleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The blurb:

“On a summer’s evening a young woman’s body is discovered aboard an abandoned boat. The likely cause of death is drowning, but her clothes are completely dry.

A man is found hung in his apartment. His death looks like suicide, although there is nothing to climb on to reach the ceiling.

On the surface the deaths seem unconnected but Detective Inspector Joona Linna suspects something more sinister. He discovers that the woman is the sister of Penelope Fernandez, spokesperson for a peace or...more The blurb:

“On a summer’s evening a young woman’s body is discovered aboard an abandoned boat. The likely cause of death is drowning, but her clothes are completely dry.

A man is found hung in his apartment. His death looks like suicide, although there is nothing to climb on to reach the ceiling.

On the surface the deaths seem unconnected but Detective Inspector Joona Linna suspects something more sinister. He discovers that the woman is the sister of Penelope Fernandez, spokesperson for a peace organisation. The hanging man is Carl Palmcrona, General Director of a Swedish Arms committee.

A killer is at large with more targets suspected. Contracts have been broken and blood will be shed. The one certainty is that only Joona Linna can stop… The Nightmare.

Judging by the blurb this should have been a fascinating thriller. And it has all the hallmarks of one; people are being pursuit by a killer for reasons they are as unaware of as the investigators and the reader. A mysterious but innocent looking photograph seems to be the reason for all the violence, although initially nobody can figure out why. National and international politics are somehow involved in what is going on, but whether intentionally or by accident is unclear. And even when the reasons for the violence become clear it proves next to impossible to find enough proof to stop it. And, all these aspects of the story worked for me. The storyline involving the mystery, the investigation and the eventual resolution was both well plotted and intriguing.

What didn’t work as well for me is the way this book asked me to stretch my imagination a little bit further than is comfortable. Linna’s unfailing intuition, allowing him to perceive what is going on long before any evidence has been found, is a bit much to deal with anyway. But I could live with that if I didn’t also have to deal with the obscure back-stories some of the other characters carry with them. In fact, the multitude of back-stories, both for main, recurring, characters and for those who are unique to this book slowed the story down to an unnecessary extent. I don’t think we needed to know all the details we were told about Penelope’s time in Darfur, or the drama involving a musical competition in another characters’ youth. The story would have worked just as well without those details and would have moved a lot faster.

I also thought that the writing was an odd mixture between distant and intimate. We are told a lot about every single character yet it is told in a tone as if it doesn’t really matter; we learn a lot about characters without ever developing any emotions about them. And this means that even though the book ends on at least two personal cliff-hangers for Linna I find myself rather uncurious as to what will happen next.

This was in interesting thriller that would have greatly benefitted from being a good bit shorter.
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Oct 18, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 5 of 5 stars

It must be somewhat of a nightmare for an author to sit down and contemplate how to create a follow-up novel to one as successful as The Hypnotist. But that is exactly what faced the team writing under the nom de plume Lars Kepler. So they wrote “The Nightmare,” in which they again feature the Finnish-born protagonist, Swedish Detective Inspector Joona Linna.

The novel is not only a fast-paced procedural, but an action-filled suspense story. The plot centers on the corruption of the system by the...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

MUCH better than the first book! The plot was linear and cohesive; you felt like you were in the same story from the beginning to end. The addition of Saga Bauer is a great character, and there were some open-ended things (like did Peter not re-load the gun on purpose?)that left you hanging and wondering about the balance of things at the end of the book. The chapters are short and tight and this is a good thriller.

The downside for me is still that Joona Linna isn't that interesting a character....more

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Aug 19, 2012 Stefano rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: a_romanzo-spy-thriller

Non mi ha entusiasmato tanto!

Premetto non ho letto alcun altro libro dei coniugi "Kepler".
Sono stato affascinato dalla copertina e dalla sinossi, e quindi mi aspettavo un thriller con alta suspance e mistero , dello stile de "Il suggeritore" di Carrisi.
Invece mi sono trovato di fronte ad una storia di fantapolitica,che seppur interessante non corrispondeva alla mia aspettativa iniziale.
L'inizio mi sembra scontato. Nei primi capitoli gli autori basano la storia sul suicidio / omicidio, ma p...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Petr rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Byla by to pětihvězdičková parodie na „severskou detektivku“, kdyby to byla parodie. Jsou tam hromady mrtvých, nezničitelná hlavní hrdinka, výbuchy, sestřelený vrtulník, několik naturalisticky popsaných souloží, z nichž některé byly dokonány, některé přerušeny naléhavou policejní prací. Je tam komisař Joona Linna, starý známý z Hypnotizéra, jen mnohem geniálnější. Je tam hlavní padouch úplně nejpadouchovatější, který si vydírané zavazuje polibkem za zvuků Paganiniho hudby. A hudební génius, kter...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Tarin Towers rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, crime, detective, nordic-crime, police-procedural, sweden, suspense, sfpl

Now here's a twists-and-turns and chase scene and explosion and action and intrigue book that is actually worth reading instead of just waiting for the movie. Kepler develops some minor characters in ways that make me root for them almost out loud. The suspense in this novel works because of emotional stakes other than pure manipulation.

The beginning of the book is a bit front-loaded with police officers in different departments. I don't know whether the National Swedish Police Force is really t...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Irene B. rated it 1 of 5 stars

It took 450 pages to arrive at a point of any excitement in this story about illegal global ammunitions running. The cause is good, the story not so much.
I felt as though I had been chasing the two hunted characters (what were their names?) for years. At last, you meet some interesting characters in Axel, the gifted violinist, and his brother and the books ends. Over. The ending producing several violent shoot'em ups (odd thing that, in a book against gun running) and some psychopathic cruelty....more

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Aug 16, 2012 Martha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another thriller from this dymanic duo. Had to read ASAP since their "The Hypnotist" is one of my all time favorite reads. This books revives the character, Detective Joona Linna, in an illegal political international munitions deal. Full of intrigue, interesting characters and a great pertinent story line. I will read all of their books as they are translated into English.

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Dec 22, 2012 Ron Arden rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great follow up to The Hypnotist. This book follows Joona Linna as he, the Swedish crime division and national police track down a conspiracy and killer. The story centers around a photograph that apparently has damaging information for some powerful people. The photo has 4 people at a concert toasting with champagne. The mystery as to who they are and why the picture is problematic involves a peace activist, her boyfriend, a UN executive and violinist, a defense contractor and the hea...more This is a great follow up to The Hypnotist. This book follows Joona Linna as he, the Swedish crime division and national police track down a conspiracy and killer. The story centers around a photograph that apparently has damaging information for some powerful people. The photo has 4 people at a concert toasting with champagne. The mystery as to who they are and why the picture is problematic involves a peace activist, her boyfriend, a UN executive and violinist, a defense contractor and the head of a Swedish government agency.

One theme in the story is about music. The damaging photo was taken at a concert with the world famous Tokyo String Quartet. The UN executive was a violin prodigy at a young age, but a horrible event made him stop playing and caused physical and mental health problems. His brother repairs and refurbishes great violins. Music adds a calmness to the sometimes frenetic pace of the story. It's sometimes almost a character.

My favorite part of the book is when Joona Linna asks if there is a way to tell what piece of music the quartet is playing by the placement of their fingers on their instruments. If he can determine that, he can date the photograph and determine if the people in it were violating Swedish and international law. A music scholar and others say that it's impossible. The UN exec figures it out in a few minutes. He can remember every note of every piece of music he has ever heard. What a great idea for solving a mystery.

As the mystery unravels, it turns out that a few people made a deal with the devil, figuratively, over weapons trafficking in Africa. The devil is himself a violin lover and he calls his agreements Paganini pacts. As he says they can't be broken even after death.

This is a great story and one that I couldn't put down. The characters are very rich and complex. Even the small parts are amazing. Everyone has something in their past that guides or prevents them from doing things. I think it's true to life as all of us are complex beings with a great range of emotions, depending on what we are doing and where we are.(less)

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Dec 11, 2012 Ann Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars

So so good. I loved the Hypnotist and this book was even better. Detective Inspector Joona Linna is the equivalent of our Morse in his brilliance at uncovering clues. The book is creepy and sinister with a satisfying storyline containing very complicated characters. Although politics run through the story it is never boring or stuffy. The book begins with the discovery of a young woman's body on board an abandoned boat. The cause of death looks like a drowning although her clothes are completely...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Nuno Magalhães rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, policial, thriller-mistério

Um livro do género policial que aborda o mistério relacionado com uma série de crimes aparentemente não relacionados. Gostei em particular dos capítulos curtos, da acção contínua, do tema centrado em torno da problemática do tráfico de armas para países do 3º mundo em conflito e, sobretudo, das inúmeras referências à arte musical, ao prazer de tocar e ouvir violinos, ao inigualáve Paganini, e às belíssimas melodias que se consegue produzir com este fantástico instrumento. Consigo compreender o f...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Filipe Dias rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sendo um dos livros de Lars Kepler, e tendo anteriormente lido "O Hipnotista", senti curiosidade em ler este livro também. A capa é chamativa e a sinopse também é de algum modo apelativa.
Muito resumido... Um homem de alto cargo é encontrado morto. Terá sido suicídio? Homicídio? Em paralelo há uma rapariga defensora da paz que vê ser morta a sua irmã e namorado e tem de fugir. Alguém deseja a sua morte também. É chamado um substituto para o cargo vago, e quem o preenche é um sucessor mas também...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, thriller

Lars Kepler writes amazing, thriller, mystery, suspense novels that will keep you spellbound to the pages until the last is read.

The second book in the series, this novel follows Joona Linna as he tries to find Penelope Fernandez all while trying to figure out why someone is trying to kill her, and who they are. This novel unravels in a fast paced, suspenseful fashion, while exploring the world of illegal arms trading.

The repeated theme of this book is "what is your nightmare". When deals are m...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Dean rated it 1 of 5 stars

One of the reasons I read this book is that I have really enjoyed many of the current Scandinavian mystery writers and had hoped this would complement them. It's hard to beat Mankell and Nesbo, and the Millennium trilogy by Larsson seems to be the benchmark. So there's some tough competition (at least in my mind) in this genre. For the most part, I felt the story was at best, OK - it kept moving at a quick pace and the plot was paced well enough. But it was, in the end, an unsatisfying read. I a...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Melissa Mohr rated it 3 of 5 stars

At first this book's use of the present tense annoys me, but then I get used to it.

It isn't quite "nordic light"--it's "nordic cheerful," maybe. It has the requisite number of horribly inventive murders, a loner detective with a dark secret, and complicated Scandinavian politics. But the authors' hearts aren't in it. They called their detective Joona Linna. How bad can your life be when your name is Joona Linna? It makes me want to skip down the sidewalk just saying his name. Joona is a super-d...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Quando descobrem uma rapariga morta numa embarcação de recreio nunca iriam imaginar que tinha sido assassinada. Até que ao autopsiá-la descobrem que tem água nos pulmões, enquanto o seu corpo estava completamente seco.

Um dia depois, o director-geral de Armamento e Infraestruturas de Defesa da Suécia é encontrado morto em sua casa: enforcado. Estarão as duas mortes interligadas? Mas se estão o que as liga? Partindo para a investigação da morte de Viola Fernández, irmã da famosa política Penélope...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Het eerste boek van Kepler, Hypnose, heb ik met stijgende spanning gelezen. Ik was meteen enthousiast over het boek en wilde graag meer lezen van deze schrijver, of eigenlijk schrijvers. Net als bij Nicci French bestaat Lars Kepler uit een duo. Toen ik 'Contract' zag liggen heb ik het meteen meegenomen in de hoop dat het weer net zo'n spannend boek is als het eerste.

Maar helaas is dit boek een stuk minder spannend. De spanning wordt er van de ene kant wel ingehouden door de vele gebeurtenissen...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Barbara added it

Found this author by accident looking for something like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Very intense and very engaging. Read it in 2 days!

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Apr 22, 2013 Trish Jackson rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have a new favorite author - or authors actually, because it is written by two people who use a nom de plume.

Raphael Guidi is untouchable. He has too much money, too much power, besides which he spends most of his time cruising around the ocean in his luxury yacht, which makes it almost impossible to pin him down. When doing business with a person, he uses all his guile to get the details of their worst nightmare from them -- and if they betray him, he makes it happen.

Detective Investigator Jo...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Malte rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Selvom Paganini-kontrakten er en ordentlig sag på knapt 600 sider er det letlæsning. Korte kapitler og et meget letlæst sprog. Desværre er historien også lidt for meget i den lette genre. Der er tale om krimi og endda en svensk en af slagsen og det er jo noget de er berømte for de svenskere - men desværre hører denne ikke til blandt de bedste af slagsen. Det skal dog lige nævnes at jeg ikke har læst Lars Keplers (eller rettere Alexander og Alexandra som står bag pseudonymet) debutroman Hypnotisø...more Selvom Paganini-kontrakten er en ordentlig sag på knapt 600 sider er det letlæsning. Korte kapitler og et meget letlæst sprog. Desværre er historien også lidt for meget i den lette genre. Der er tale om krimi og endda en svensk en af slagsen og det er jo noget de er berømte for de svenskere - men desværre hører denne ikke til blandt de bedste af slagsen. Det skal dog lige nævnes at jeg ikke har læst Lars Keplers (eller rettere Alexander og Alexandra som står bag pseudonymet) debutroman Hypnotisøren og det betyder selvfølgelig er der er nogle af personernes forhold og baggrund jeg ikke kender så meget til, hvilket primært betyder noget i forhold til hovedpersonen kommisær Joona Linna.

Spoiler alert! Læser du videre kan du få afsløret dele af historien der kan ødelægge den for dig. Så er du advaret.

Bogen starter ellers spændende med en krydsklipning (hedder det også det når det er i bøger) mellem fundet af et lig på en båd og fortællingen om tre personer der tager afsted på en sejltur. Ret hurtigt er man klar over at liget må være en af de tre personer og med denne dystre viden læser man så videre frem mod at liget findes. Jeg var fanget efter et par sider og så gik det ellers over stok og sten. Desværre går pusten lidt af ballonen og der mangler ligesom noget...

Dels er den lejemorder der står bag de mange dødsfald en slags anti-rambo. Han er simpelthen lidt for sej og samtidig er han ikke en hovedperson men en biperson uden sin egen historie - en slags handlingsmotor. Det kommer altså både til at være urealistisk og uvedkommende på samme tid.

Dels begynder der at være små bihistorier som ikke giver mening, som da Björn og Penolope bliver taget til fanger af en pensioneret tv-vært der vil have dem med i et bizart og privat quizshow.

Desuden bliver bogen lidt sjappet til sidst. Efter en jagt på lejemorderen virker bagmanden og dennes livvagter lidt svage i geledet. Den store aktionscene skal vel komme til sidst?

Endelig er det også begyndt at irritere mig at der altid skal være lidt til husarerne. Saga og hendes kærestes næsten sex er en irriterende og fuldstændig uvedkommende scene i bogen. Det ville klæde forfattere (og redaktører) at få luget lidt ud i den slags. Så kan man vælge at læse de grå sider hvis man er interesseret i lidt lummer sex som sin fredagsbog!

Til gengæld er selve grundplottet spændende - både hele historien om skumle handler og grunden til at bogen hedder som den hedder - Paganini-kontrakten... Og trods de problemer jeg her peger på, kan bogen fint bruges som vinterlæsning - enten hjemme i varmen eller som pendlerbog (der er sider nok til lidt frostforsinkelser hos DSB)...
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Jul 25, 2012 Mari added it · review of another edition

« Ai pensieri succede qualcosa di strano quando si viene presi dal panico. Perchè il panico non è costante : ogni tanto si allenta e lascia spazio a ragionamenti del tutto razionali. E’ come chiudere fuori dalla porta il frastuono e trovarefinalmente il silenzio, accompagnato da un’improvvisa lucidità. Poi però la paura torna, i pensieri vanno in un’unica direzione, si rincorrono in un circolo vizioso, non rimane altro che la fuga.»
Una grossa imbarcazione da diporto viene trovata alla deriva...more « Ai pensieri succede qualcosa di strano quando si viene presi dal panico. Perchè il panico non è costante : ogni tanto si allenta e lascia spazio a ragionamenti del tutto razionali. E’ come chiudere fuori dalla porta il frastuono e trovarefinalmente il silenzio, accompagnato da un’improvvisa lucidità. Poi però la paura torna, i pensieri vanno in un’unica direzione, si rincorrono in un circolo vizioso, non rimane altro che la fuga.»
Una grossa imbarcazione da diporto viene trovata alla deriva nell’arcipelago meridionale di Stoccolma. Nella cabina c’è una donna, seduta sul letto, a gambe aperte e con gli occhi aperti. La donna è morta, apparentemente affogata.
Il corpo senza vita di Carl Palmcrona, direttore generale dell’Autorità per il controllo dei prodotti strategici, è sospeso al centro di una stanza del suo appartamento all’ultimo piano di Grevgatan 2. La malinconica musica di un violino echeggia nell’appartamento quando il sovrintendente di polizia John Bengtsson mandato ad ispezionare l’appartamento trova il cadavere. Palmcrona è vestito di tutto punto, indossa anche il soprabito e la sua ventiquattrore e il cellulare sono sul pavimento, poco distanti da lui, sembra più che fosse pronto ad uscire per andare al lavoro piuttosto che propenso a togliersi la vita. Qualcosa inquieta Bengtsson, che decide immediatamente di chiamare Joona Linna alla polizia criminale. Suicidio o omicidio? Questo dovrà stabilire Linna, perché a volte “la morte non sarà il peggiore dei tuoi incubi”.
Così inizia L’esecutore, l’attesissimo secondo romanzo di Lars Kepler (pseudonimo della coppia Alexander Ahndoril e Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril) edito da Longanesi che uscirà l’11 novembre in tutte le librerie.
Chi ha letto L’ipnotista (il primo libro di Lars Kepler) sa già chi è il sostituto commissario Joona Linna. Finlandese di origine ma trapiantato ormai a Stoccolma da parecchio tempo, Linna è un poliziotto a cui non sfugge mai niente, attento al minimo particolare, acuto ed ironico quanto basta.
C’è molta attesa intorno a questo libro. L’ipnotista ha avuto un successo impressionante. Appena uscito è entrato subito nella classifica dei libri più venduti, e in Svezia ha addirittura superato la trilogia di Larsson. Ad essere sinceri ho sentito molti pareri contrastanti in proposito e perciò appena mi è capitata tra le mani la copia de L’esecutore qualche timore che potesse essere una ciofeca ce l’ho avuto. Inoltre sono sempre un po’ scettica nel seguire le mode del momento e nell’ultimo anno sono stati un po’ troppi gli autori spacciati per eredi di Larsson.
Per fortuna i miei dubbi si sono rilevati infondati, perché L’esecutore è un buon romanzo. Le 573 pagine che lo compongono all’inizio potrebbero incutere un po’ di timore, ma non è così. Si legge tutto d’un fiato, è avvincente, con una buona trama e suspense fino alla fine. Ad un certo punto, dopo circa 360 pagine, il mistero sembra svelato e l’unica cosa rimasta in ballo riguardava la cattura “del cattivo”. Temevo che mi sarei dovuta sorbire duecento pagine di brodo allungato e invece i colpi di scena non sono mancati. Il ritmo è stato incalzante per tutta la storia. Tanti personaggi ma tutti ben caratterizzati. Non si corre il rischio di confonderli, oltre ad essere voci e pensiero hanno tutti più o meno una storia personale che prende forma pagina dopo pagina.
Insomma come ho già detto L’esecutore è un buon libro, non un capolavoro, non sarà il libro dell’anno ma per gli amanti del genere può risultare una piacevole lettura. Per me lo è stata!
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Aug 28, 2012 C5toland rated it 3 of 5 stars

After reading the hypnotist last summer and staying up all night to finish it, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this novel.

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Aug 26, 2012 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars

This 500 page book could have been at least 200 pages shorter. The main story about people involved in arms deals, was surrounded by several unnecessary side stories. I enjoyed the previous Lars Keplar book, The Hypnotist. This one was difficult to get into and a disappointment.

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May 09, 2013 Tony Nielsen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Yes, yet another Scandanavian author for me to wax lyrical about. But, as I found out, after I'd read "The Nightmare" Lars Kepler doesn't actually exist. Its a nom de plume for a husband and wife writing team. No matter as this Sewdish based story, and their character detective Joona, is a real winner. Its a fast paced thriller that's linked to the supply of arms and ammunition to African countries who are battling with internal issues with fragile governments, and the winners of their conflicts...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Alexis rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hate to review books I didn't actually finish. Unfortunately, I gave up after 150 pages, because I gave up hope of getting into it. The writing (or possibly the translation) is very awkward--for some reason, the use of the present tense with a 3rd person omniscient point of view kept grating in a way I can't quite describe. After 150 pages of a thriller, I should feel like I've gotten some kind of mystery to get my teeth into. Instead, I'm treated to 3 page chapters that don't add up to anythi...more

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Thriller

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About Lars Kepler

Lars Kepler is a pseudonym used by Swedish writer couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. Both previously published authors, together they have written three crime novels, all concerning the investigations of police inspector Joona Linna.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larske...

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title link	preview: The Nightmare
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The Nightmare (Joona Linna #2)

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